The federal government released a recovery plan Monday for the threatened western snowy plover, a sparrow-size shorebird living on sandy beaches in California, Oregon and Washington. Environmentalists immediately attacked the plan as weak.

Under the Endangered Species Act, the recovery plan acts as a road map to help a species increase to stable numbers in its former territory. The 300-page plan issued by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service relies on cooperative efforts of states, private landowners and nonprofit groups to help bring back the birds, which scrape out nests on open beaches where they are vulnerable to hikers and dogs.

The birds can be found around the Bay Area, including Goat Rock State Beach in Sonoma County, Dillon Beach in Marin County, San Francisco's Ocean Beach and Half Moon Bay State Beach.

Environmentalists criticized the plan for setting the recovery goal at 3,000 breeding birds, considering there are already an estimated 2,000 birds or more along the Pacific Coast.

"This is a very weak recovery plan goal. It's virtually impossible for the plover to recover with the bar set this low," said Kieran Suckling, policy director for the Center for Biological Diversity.

Al Donner, a spokesman for Fish and Wildlife, said agency biologists concluded that 3,000 birds should be the goal on the basis of several criteria. They also require that the population remain at that number for 10 years; the birds must return in certain numbers to coastal areas, including 500 in the Bay Area; and there has to be one fledged chick for every adult male.

Dan Taylor, director of public policy at Audubon California, called the recovery plan a good first step, but he is waiting for the release in coming months of regulations that could provide crucial funding and monitoring.

Audubon sent critical comments on the draft regulations issued last year, saying they relied too heavily on voluntary efforts and on local government responsibility.